Rangelands and their Governance: Implications for Traditional Pastoralists

Abstract

Rangelands play an important role in the livelihood of local communities and
wildlife. In this paper, however, the three main roles of rangelands in low rainfall areas
will be discussed in the following sections: (i) as a feed source for livestock production;
(ii) a base of survival for local communities, their institutions, and management practices
they developed to overcome environmental variability; and (iii) as a means of avoiding
conflicts between herders and farmers. This paper is about local communities of people
who live in and get their livelihoods from drylands. On a global basis they number
hundreds of millions of people with thousands of millions of livestock. The focus is
on the human dimension of rangelands i.e. indigenous communities, local institutions,
and resource management systems.
Key words: Development, tenure, common property, privatization, traditional institutions,
pastoralism.